1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the agricultural field and more particularly refers to a harvesting machine and, even more particularly refers to a novel reel for harvesters for crops like soy, wheat and the like, the harvester being of the type including a front platform with cutting means for cutting the crops and a reel for accommodating the crops towards the cutting means. Most preferably, the machine incorporating the advantages of the invention includes a reel transverse to the moving direction of the machine, the reel including a plurality of cross-bars with paddles or tines to take the crops towards the cutting means, the platform also including crop collecting means for taken the cut crops over the platform and carrying the same into a crop conveying means towards the inner processing cleaning mechanisms of the harvester. Even more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in reels for soy and wheat harvesters wherein the reel can be moved relative to the machine in order to have a desired orientation of the tines or paddles in the cross bars and a desired orientation of the entire reel relative o the platform both orientations for obtaining a better processing of the crops and much more recovering of the cut crops as compared to the prior art harvesters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As it is well known to any person skilled in the art, the soy or wheat harvesting involves several requirements related to the maturity status of the plants, the humidity content of the plant, the general status of the plant, i.e. whether the plant is erect or tumbled onto the soil, the weather conditions, and several features of the used machine. The evaluation of the results or yields of a harvesting of soy, wheat, oats, barley and rye, for example, may be determined mainly as a function of two types of causes that provoke the looses of crops related to such plants. In effect, such looses may be classified as natural looses due to the plant status, or such looses depending from the equipment status and related to the performance and operation conditions of the machinery used in the harvesting work.
In relation to the natural looses, the soil level i.e. the evenness and unevenness of soil, the plant status i.e. whether they are erect or lying down or tumbled, over the soil, the presence of weeds, low fortification, sheath dehiscence, etc., are taken into account. As to the looses due to the functioning conditions of the machines, these looses relates to the regulation and settings of the several mechanisms of the harvester, the machine design and, particularly, the design and/or operation of the platform, particularly the reel in the platform.
As to the harvester of the type including a reel in a platform, the looses are usually the cause of an incorrect reel regulation or insufficient regulation provided by the reel mechanisms. It is quite common that the reel is excessively high relative to the soil therefore permitting the plants to fall down ahead of the cutting means in the platform without the plants being guided towards the cutting means. If the reel is excessively low the plants are excessively kicked and the grains fall down out of the platform and the grain collecting mechanisms. If the reel is excessively delayed as to the cutting means the plants are cut prematurely, falling down ahead of the platform without the stems of the plant being taken by the proper mechanisms and without the cut plants being carried towards the collector means. If the reel is ahead of the cutting means the plants are not accommodated and retained against the cutting means thus resulting in a lot of plants that are not cut and not collected by the machine. In connection with another aspect, if the paddles or tines of the cross bars are not properly orientated and the rotation speed of the reel is excessive, the plants are taken by the tines and upwardly ejected out of the platform.
Among the known reels, those including cross bars with paddles are quite known. Other reels include bars with retractile tines and bars with unidirectional and parallel tines and bars with angularly movable tines. These tines are considered the better ones for soy harvesting as long as they permit the plants to be positioned entirely erect in front of the cutting means thus providing better harvesting results, higher yields, better cutting and subsequent plant collecting as compared to other reels. However, several drawbacks are suffered not only by all the known reels but also by these type of regulated-tines reels.
Effectively, as it is well known in the art, one of the most important aspects in any harvesting machine is to set the most convenient distance between the cross bars of the reel and the cutting mechanism of the platform in order to get the most appropriate condition of the plant upon cutting thereof by the cutting means. The cutting means, comprising a plurality of cutting knives, is located under the reel and ahead of endless screws for collecting the cut plants and carrying the same towards a central part of the platform wherein the plants are taken by conveyor means for conveying the plants into the machine for processing the plant in order to separate and classify the seeds off the leaves and stems.
The harvesters using rotary reels like the ones disclosed above fail to provide the necessary regulation of the position of the reel relative to the above mentioned remaining mechanisms, particularly relative to the cutting means and the cut-plant collecting endless screws. This poor regulation is due to the fact that the cross bars are fixed to rigid end structures that rotate around a driving shaft and along a circular path. Therefore, the cross bars and their tines move along a circular path that restricts the regulation of the bars and tines as would be desirable, particularly insofar as to the spacing of the tines relative to the cutting means and to collecting means is concerned. Due to this circular path of movement, the bars enter the upper part of the plants crushing and kicking the plants thus provoking the seeds to fall down the soil before the plant reaching the platform. In addition, the circular path can not permit the bars to be as close the endless collector as necessary to prevent the accumulation of cut plants which are left adjacent the collector but at a distance therefrom insufficient to be caught by the collector.
In other words, due to a pure geometrical question, neither the movement paths the tines and the cutting means can be appropriately matched but nor the movement paths of the tines and the endless collector can be accommodated to get the desired results. While the conventional can be moved up and down as well as back and fore, these movements are insufficient to obtain the most convenient position of the several platform components to prevent dead spaces or volumes from being formed between the reel and the cutting means and between the reel and the endless collector. Particularly, the cut plants excessively accumulates in the dead space formed between the conventional reel and the endless collector; when, for any reason, such excessive accumulation of plants are suddenly caught by the endless collector and all the plants are conveyed at the same time into the machine, the internal mechanisms of the machine become blocked and the machine must be stopped and some time is necessary to remove the blocked material and clean the machine before restarting the harvesting works.
It would be therefore convenient to have a new reel system or a machine capable of being positioned and combined with the several mechanisms of a harvesting machine or platform in a way that the above drawbacks be prevented, also providing better crop-harvested results and yields, better and more possibilities of regulating the entire positioning of the reel, the cross bars and tines, depending of the type of plant under harvesting, the status of the plants and other variables.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a reel for harvesters of the type including a leading platform with crop cutters and cut-plant collectors and conveyors, the reel comprising a plurality of parallel cross bars rotating around a driving shaft, the bars being driven by end transmission bands at respective ends of the reel, the bands running over wheels arranged in a desired manner to define a desired close path.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a reel for harvesting machines of the type including a leading platform with crop cutting means, the reel comprising
a first and a second opposite ends,
at least one driving shaft having opposite ends,
at least one first set of wheels at each end of the reel, the first set of wheels comprising a driven wheel connected to the driving shaft, and at least one idler wheel,
at least one transmission band running over the first set of wheels for transmitting motion, and
a plurality of cross bars extending along the platform and between the ends of the reel, each bar having respective opposite ends, each end being connected to one of said at least one transmission band.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reel for harvesting machines of the type having a front platform with crop cutting means, the reel including two opposite ends, the reel comprising:
at least one first set of two wheels at each end of the reel,
at least one motion transmission band running over the two wheels for transmitting motion, and
a plurality of cross bars extending along the platform and between the ends of the reel, each bar having respective opposite ends, each end connected to a band.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide a harvesting machine comprising:
a front platform,
a crop cutting means mounted in the platform,
a reel for manipulating the crops and feeding the same into the cutting means, and
crop collector means,
the reel comprising:
a plurality of cross bars driven by end motion transmission bands at respective ends of the reel, the bands running over wheels arranged in a manner to define a desired close path for the bands and cross bars.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a novel reel for harvesters which, among its several advantages provides an easy mounting thereof in the platform of the harvesting machine, an accurate and desirable independent regulation of at least three positions of the reel to get the most desirable position thereof relative to the cutting mechanism and the endless collector, as well as to achieve a better entering of the reel over the plants together with a perfect leaving of the reel upwardly of the plants once the plants are cut over the platform, whereby any looses of the grains and seeds falling off the platform are prevented.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be better understood when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and description.